12 Best Dow Stocks to Buy Right Now

5. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)

No. of Hedge Fund Holders: 158

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a technology company that designs, manufactures, and markets smartphones, PCs, watches, wearables, and related accessories. Over the past years, the iPhone maker has enhanced its Services business segment with major products including Apple Wallet and Apple Pay, which allows users to manage payments from their Apple systems.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has solidified its long-term dominance in the consumer electronics sector while concentrating on a high-end, intricately linked ecosystem of goods, services, and software. Apple’s iPhone which generates 46% of the company’s net sales continues to hold its market. Retaining consumers in this interlinked ecosystem of Apple allows the company to expand its network and maximize its earnings.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the company reported record revenue of $94.9 billion, a rise of 6% from a year ago. The sales growth was driven by strong iPhone revenue, which accounted for $46.2 billion, setting a record for the September quarter across all geographic areas. Apple’s services sector continues to grow as the firm reported over 1 billion paid memberships in Q4. The services revenue also reached a record high of $25 billion, up 12% year-over-year.

CDT Capital Management stated the following regarding Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) in its Q4 2024 investor letter:

“The crowd. While this evolution in AI is going to change the world, market expectations for the technology have become unhinged. The crowd, which is more like an exuberant mob, anointed the Mag 7 with spectacular, nonsensical valuations based on the premise that AI will be an amazing, money-printing growth engine for these companies – and the truth is it likely will be. The problem is that the math just isn’t mathing.”